Community loch plan to be tested

The community of Kinghorn want a right to decide the loch's future

A community group which wants to buy Kinghorn Loch in Fife has been given money to carry out a feasibility study.

Kinghorn Community Land Association has already registered an interest in 19 plots of land which surround the loch.

It wants to turn it into a facility for local people. Land reform legislation means the group has first refusal on land which is put on the market.

A ballot of residents would be needed to buy any land. Fife Council has awarded £9,610 for the study.

Negotiations needed

Consultants have already been appointed and the study is expected to be carried out over the summer.

The group then wants to negotiate so that it takes over the management of the bowl of land which surrounds the loch.

If those negotiations enabled them to put in an offer, it would have to go to a community vote.

Spokesman Richard Brewster told the BBC Scotland news website: "It is a very ambitious project.

"It gives the community the right to decide what is done with the land."

Land reform legislation does not mean that the group can force a land owner to sell.